She Loved What She Saw
by Nabakza
Summary: Why Andromeda Black left her life behind.


She walked down the narrow country lane, stumbling and looking back over her shoulder every few steps. She could swear that every swish of the tall grass beside the road was the swish of a cloak. That every beat of her racing heart was the beat of a following footstep. That every swooshing breath she took was the swoosh of a spell aimed at her back.

The girl pulled her cloak tighter about her throat, and picked up her already breakneck pace, her luggage floating along silently beside her. The shape of a cottage rose from the darkness as she descended a slight hill in the road. As if the sight of the house served as a calming draught, her thoughts were able to cover a more broad spectrum than just intense paranoia. She recalled everything that had happened mere hours ago and choked back a sob. She had left them, left everything, and she knew she could never go back.

_She and her younger sister had just gotten back from Kings Cross Station. Her final year at Hogwarts had been completed, she was ready to enter the world as a certified witch. Narcissa had just reached to throw open the door to the Black Manor, when they were both blindsided by something and sent tumbling into the nearest hedge. A high pitched screaming laugh told her that Bellatrix had slammed into them and was cackling gleefully at having knocked her sisters over._

"_Oh my dear Dromy! Do forgive me. I simply could not wait to congratulate you!" Her older sister said heavily, pulling them both up. "My dearest sister, finally through with school and soon to be married!"_

_Andromeda stopped trying to pick leaves from her hair and stared wide eyed at her darker sibling. "What do you mean 'married'?" she asked indifferently, brushing off her cloak and looking towards Narcissa, who shook her blonde head with a disgusted look._

"_Oh Andromeda, I just had to tell you before Father got the chance!" Andromeda noted the slightly crazed gleam in Bellatrix' eyes, hoping that it was just the emotions of the day getting to her, and not something worse. "My lovely sister, Father has just finished setting it up! You are to marry Walden Macnair in one months time!"_

_Bellatrix's gleeful cackle sounded again as she grabbed Andromeda and Narcissa's hands and spun them around once before seeming to come back to herself. "Well, I really must be going. Rodolphus is waiting to take me shopping for a new cauldron. Mine burned all the way through last week!"_

_Bellatrix swooped forward and embraced her sisters again before walking quickly down the path and dissappirating outside the gate. Narcissa turned to her with congratulations, but seeing her sister's vacant stare, entered the manor, leaving Andromeda standing alone on the threshold, staring up at the door._

Andromeda knocked on the wooden front door before her, and then looked around once more to make sure no one was there. A light came on upstairs and distant thudding reached her ears. The door was thrown open, and light spilled out, revealing a young man with sandy hair and blue eyes, holding a wand pointed toward her chest.

"Ted… I-" She reached up and pulled the hood from her head, showing her tear stained face.

"Andromeda! What happened? What's wrong?" Ted Tonks immediately lowered his wand and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them. "Andy? Dromeda? What is the matter?" She let him lead her to the kitchen and sat her down at the table. She watched as he put water on for tea and when he turned back to her, she had dried her eyes and was sitting up strait in her chair.

She watched him as he sat down in the chair adjacent to hers and allowed him to take one of her hands in his before saying, "I… They wanted me to… Ted, I ran away."

She looked up form their hands and watched him smile sadly. "I realize that Dromeda, but what could possibly have happened to bring you here so quickly? I thought you were going to think about it for a bit, mull it over."

She let out a shaky sigh, closed her eyes, and told him what had happened.

"_Andromeda? Come into the study. Your Father and I have something to tell you." __Druella Black called to her as she entered the mansion. What could she say to that? Nothing except a dry "Yes, Mother." _

_Andromeda felt as if the walls were closing in with every step she took toward her parents. With every breath, her inner self rebelled against her will power. She could not break now. The façade must continue just a bit longer._

_As Cygnus Black told her of her engagement to Walden Macnair, and her mother stood smugly beside her, her very essence screamed to run, to be away from her parent's strangling hold. Her heart ached as she was handed a sparkling diamond ring, and all she could think of was how she wished it was from Ted Tonks, and not the disgusting Macnair. And as she stared at the ring, thinking this, she realized what she would do with startling clarity. She would escape._

_She excused herself as soon as she deemed it socially acceptable, and walked briskly to her room, locking the door behind her. She opened her Hogwarts trunk, which had been brought up and emptied by one of the house elves, and started packing everything that she would need. Once finished, she sat on the edge of her bed, closed her eyes, and pictured a certain wizard who had sweet blue eyes always filled with life and happiness._

Andromeda looked up into Ted's blue eyes, filled with the life and happiness that was her future, and loved what she saw.

**Authors Note: Nothing Belongs to me. All Characters belong to J. K. Rowling. Reviews would be appreciated. And if everyone who reviews would go to _www . freerice . com _****and earn a few grains of rice for the hungry by answering multiple choice vocab questions, it would be really awesome. If you do, then please tell me in the review. Thanks.**


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